A Few Foolish Things

“I’m going to allow myself to do a few foolish things…”

It’s a simple thought, really, this idea of Zedka’s from Veronika Decides to Die. Simple and powerful. Zedka has spent enough time at the mental hospital Villette to recognize that.

On planning her entrance back into ‘the real world’ she is conscious of what she wants to bring from her experience in living with crazies. “I’m going to allow myself to do a few foolish things,” she says.

This statement challenged me to look at my own life and to ponder what “a few foolish things” could do to it. It also inspired me to look around and see who else might be embracing this idea in order to live life more fully.

Meet Miss Expatria, who on the advice of a Jesus-loving taxi driver, leaves her dead-end relationship of 7 years and moves to Italy. In her own words,

Miss Expatria was born on October 9, 2002 on a sofa previously owned by Robert Altman, whom she has never met. She raised herself in an empty palazzo on the sea in Lavinio, Italy. Later, she moved to Rome and became the doyenne of the Gay Mafia…

Not everyone has her circumstances, and not everyone has the same desires as she. But whatever your ideas are about how life should be lived, she begs you to follow them until you drop.

Miss Expatria comes to you from the other side of her dreams, and she is telling you it is worth it.

What does it take to trust a happenstance taxi driver, drop everything and move to a new country?

A healthy dose of brazen foolishness.

Miss Expatria’s story makes me think being slightly crazy (conventionally speaking) is just what is needed in order to reach “the other side of our dreams.”

Relocating to another continent may or may not be what our heart is after, but I believe living life fearlessly is. It is fearlessness that allows us to forge the unknown, create new dreams and new possibilities, and confidently reinvent ourselves and our destinies. It is fearlessness that begs us to climb the mountain of “impossible things.”

What is required for fearless living is authenticity- a word we hear an awful lot about in Social Media, but perhaps we don’t take home deeply enough.

How authentically are we living our dreams? Dreams are not just about what we want to do, see, or accomplish.
Dreams are at the most basic form of how we want to experience ourselves and Life.

Yes, one of my big dreams is to live in Italy.
However, I also dream to live life with more inner spaciousness– to allow my spirit flights of fancy without bumping into walls of self-judgment, personal doubt or comparison with others.

What Veronika, Zedka, Paolo Coelho and Miss Expatria hint to me is this: a bit of foolishness primes the pump toward authentic living.

I’ve decided on a couple of foolish things to integrate in my life. They are small, but not inconsequential. Even the slightest opening in this way gives the soul more room to breathe.

1. I’m going to sing louder than I normally would feel comfortable- be it at church, in the car, or in the kitchen-because singing gives me joy and I’ve cared too long about learning to sing in tune. If I wait until that happens I’ll miss out on a lot of happiness. Most would agree it is foolish to sing loudly if you can’t carry a tune, but I am bucking that conventional wisdom, in exchange for more freedom.

2. I’m going to wear thigh-high stockings and garter belts again. Really, there is no practical use for these things except to feel like an absolute woman. And I love feeling like an absolute woman.

Foolishness and fearlessness might go hand in hand in living an authentic life full of “impossible things.” Fearlessness leads us to pursue our dreams; foolishness gives us enjoyment in the process.

What two foolish things might you allow yourself in order to dare more freedom in your life? Who do you know that is living life with this philosophy?